I like to look occasionally at the shared orders on the PCGS website (see link below) to see what’s being graded and what the grades and turn-around time are. Just took a look. There are 3077 submissions listed, and you can look at 100 at a time (31 webpages). So, I looked at submissions randomly in the first few pages. 10 out of 12 were world coins, mostly Chinese. It occurred that maybe PCGS’s world sites may do an occasional data dump to the website server, which temporarily would make at least part of the list biased toward world coins. I then looked at submissions in the middle and end of the list. 6 out of 12 were world coins, again mostly Chinese. Now it’s possible the entire list is temporarily loaded with world coins. And I admit my sampling was limited. But it seems world coins are on their way to becoming the dominant business of PCGS and presumably NGC as well. I collect British and French coins as well as U.S. Raw coins still seem to dominate the offerings, including medium to high-end coins, of British and French dealers. However, I’ve noticed a trend over the last few years of increasing numbers of world dealers offering more slabbed coins for sale and at auction. This all makes sense. There are far more raw world coins worth grading than U.S. coins. And there are more new types being created at world mints than at the U.S. Mint. In addition, in some countries, particularly in Asia, the populace has more disposable wealth, so some of it is put into coins. PCGS and NGC have done a good job of providing grading services outside the U.S., including world grading centers and numerous world submission centers. More and more world collectors and dealers have come to trust the TPGs and see value in grading. Then there is the huge U.S. market for world coins too. It would be interesting to know the gross income of the grading services from world coins versus U.S. coins. Doubt that info is released. But I would guess that both services see world coins as a bigger source of future income than U.S. coins. Cal Link: https://www.pcgs.com/shared-orders
It wouldn't surprise me. The world coin side has been growing for years and will continue to do so. I remember reading a blog from a major dealer (I think it was Doug Winter, my apologies to him and whoever said it if I am mistaken) that basically said that the world collecting community was going through the raw vs graded debate that US coins went through a couple decades ago. Just like in the US the graded coins will win out over time and more and more people will not only accept them but want them while there will still be some hold outs for raw only like we have. I couldn't agree more with the sentiment that was expressed there and that's exactly what we have been seeing throughout the world. More dealers are offering PCGS/NGC coins, more world auction houses are selling them, the British Royal Mint is even selling them, and the population reports are growing rather quickly from a lot of world coin submissions. They certainly have a bright future ahead in the world market
No surprise from me, either, on any of this, even the bit about European dealers still favoring raw coins. Europe has at least a 500 year history of coin collecting already, and slabs didn't exist for about 460 of those years. I am curious though: when you say "Chinese coins," are you referring to modern stuff like Pandas, or any of the less recent coins, like pre-20th century cash coins?
Both. Theres a lot of classic coins that end up in the submissions and the Chinese submissions can be brutal. I remember seeing on several occasions randomly browsing submissions where classic chinese coins where submitted and it would be like a 15-30 coins and only 1 or 2 coins were real
Ouch. I hate fake coins and have no respect for those who make them, but I would be lying if I said the fact that 90% of the Chinese coins submitted to PCGS were fake, especially if they're being submitted by the Chinese.
I'd think it would be tiresome as a grader to see stacks of counterfeit coins that people are trying to get graded as genuine, some unknowingly and some knowingly. I'd worry that sophisticated counterfeiters might attempt to use the TPGS to find marketable fake coins, but I guess they're doing that anyway already.
It's definitely a brutal area to be in raw classic Chinese coins without being an expert. I would never touch one unless it was graded. It's got to be a little depressing after a while, but in the long run it has to also be rewarding knowing that what you are doing will help prevent that in the future
I've got a few pre-revolutionary Chinese coins, and none are certified. It's just that they're all either low value cash, or I bought them from someone who I know knows their stuff. Shoutout to Ken Dorney here, who, for some mysterious reason has been banned from CT.
